Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Ela chegou ontem.

Chegou is the past tense (pretérito perfeito) of the regular verb chegar (to arrive). To form this tense for ela (she), ele (he), or você (you, formal), you drop the -ar ending from the dictionary form and add -ou.

How do you pronounce the ch in chegou?

In Portuguese, the letters ch always make a "sh" sound, like in the English word "shoe" or "shop". It is not pronounced like the hard "ch" in the English word "chair".

How is the ending -ou pronounced in chegou?

The -ou ending sounds similar to the "o" in the English word "go", but shorter and tighter. In many parts of Portugal, it is pronounced as a single, closed "o" sound rather than a blended double-vowel sound.

Can I put ontem at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes! You can absolutely say Ontem ela chegou. Portuguese word order is quite flexible. Moving ontem (yesterday) to the front of the sentence simply puts a little more emphasis on when the action happened.